Whenever footage is shown of Watford's legendary manager Graham Taylor leading his side out for the 1984 FA Cup final at Wembley, namesake Les Taylor basks in the reflected glory of being next to him as skipper.
It wasn't meant to be like that however. Club captain Pat Rice and Steve Sims were injured and then Wilf Rostron was sent off against Luton and suspended.
'I was only fourth choice really,' says Taylor. 'Graham called me into his office on the Monday before the final and said I was a natural choice to wear the armband. I'd never captained Watford before, and never did it after!'
Watford's 1984 FA Cup final captain Les Taylor pictured in Abingdon, Oxfordshire recently
That Watford were gracing the biggest stage in English football was amazing enough in itself.
With rock star Elton John as chairman, Graham Taylor had taken the Hornets from the Fourth Division to First Division runners-up and a Cup final in seven years.
The remarkable story, with a team which included a young John Barnes and tabloid darling Mo Johnston, will doubtless be retold before Watford play Manchester City in this year's showpiece next Saturday.
At the time, Taylor, a workmanlike midfielder who had signed from Oxford in 1980, remembers being thrust from nowhere into an occasion that stopped a nation.
'I got all the dressing-room jokes about being made captain because I was the manager's son,' he says with a smile.
'We knew it was all a bit different when [comedian] Michael Barrymore was invited to our hotel at breakfast on Cup final morning.
'He tried to do a Basil Fawlty skit, clipping the waiters by the ear and dragging them round.
'We were looking at each other going "What the hell is happening here?". Nobody was laughing.
'It wasn't Graham's idea. I think the organisers did it to make the final more showbiz.'
Watford manager Graham Taylor (left) alongside club chairman Elton John in May 1984
In truth, Watford didn't really need any extra showbiz with their flamboyant 'Rocketman' Elton in charge.
'We were known around the world because of Elton,' says Les. 'There were some good perks. Every year we had a fabulous tour arranged; Jamaica, Thailand, Singapore, China.
'Elton was knowledgeable about the game and we'd see him at training and games. He came to the dressing room at Wembley.
'Every year he'd host a summer party at his home in Windsor. Everyone at the club was invited, from laundry ladies to players, and we'd end up mixing with guests like Rod Stewart and Elton's mum.
'Kiki Dee was my pin-up and one year she was there. I went with my wife and had to apologise to her for swooning over Kiki.
'Elton meant such a lot to the club. I never told him but if we'd won the final, I would have got him to come up and lift the Cup with me.' It never happened because Howard Kendall's Everton, an emerging force in English football, triumphed 2-0.
The key moment
